markandjie

It's confusing, you have to click read more at the end of the boarding paragraph.

We've also booked a day room before with the help of our travel agent (not in Lisbon, but in Athens and Nairobi). You may have luck checking with a few hotels to see if it's an option.

Agree w/ @jjs217 and @SLSD and would add that it's always easier to move the itinerary back to a port that's re-opened vs scrambling to find a berth in ports that are likely booked up. This is the smart move, and if things stabilize they'll have options.

I would highly recommend searching trip advisor for activities on each island to get an idea of what might be special to that location. We did that a few years ago when in the Caribbean on Celebrity (Seabourn itinerary timing didn't work, unfortunately!) and found some great options. Was able to take my son on a discovery scuba dive on one island, for example.

Great add. And now I understand why my wife always goes to the square about midpoint of our trip!

Yes, they will do this at the end of the cruise. They take your total spend less your OBC and if you're owed money back they refund you. Basically your credit card payment is treated as a deposit.

Explora running their buildout at 900 pax / 64k tonnage, which is similar passengers but much heavier than the Viking Ocean fleet (those are ~47k tonnage), and obviously going after a different class of service as well. Both Regent and SS investing at the ~730 pax, 55k tonnage level. Between those three going to be a lot of competition for a similar audience and a need to fill a lot of new capacity. Should be nice for those who want to go on cruises...lots of options and probably a lot of deals.

Living in Austin I dress very casual almost everywhere. Only when it gets before 40 do I wear anything other than birkenstocks. But even I bring a sports coat to wear every night on Seabourn.

Two things: - never hurts to ask your TA - there's a website called *****. You can sign up for an account and search their inventory and if it shows available there then it should be available

This is likely just another example of their lousy website. Things seem to disappear and return all the time. I would give it a day or two and it may magically come back.

@jdk-atlga just happened to find this video on YouTube that shows a few brief images of the tea service just before/around the 1 minute mark. https://youtu.be/un17vkOoKWg?si=_Jrd34_TXr_vJyb9

My wife (Jie, pronounced J like the letter), will be onboard as well with three girlfriends. Girls trip to celebrate her birthday. Hope y'all have an amazing and smooth sailing!

This sounds amazing in the current market. I keep hearing stories of people being asked to pay more or the dealer will sell the car to those who will.

I've been thinking about this quite a bit. On the one hand, I know people who cancelled trips to Greece last year because of Russia/Ukraine. We went ahead with it and had an amazing time. So will this stay contained similarly? On the other, it seems we may be reaching the end of 'pax americana', which could have huge repercussions in many parts of the world in terms of openness and access. (Not to mention climate change impacts.) The next 30 years of cruising will likely look very different than the last 30. Finally, I feel guilty even worrying about whether I'll be able to take amazing trips when each of these conflicts are and will continue to ruin the lives of thousands if not millions.

Unfortunately we don't. Will try to get some when we're back on in a few weeks. 🤞

Agree completely, though it's a shame you can no longer go upstairs and see the frescos. Once they converted it back to a working mosque they closed that area. But being in a working mosque does create a special ambiance. Seems like Blue Mosque has been under renovation for years and years. Perhaps it's done now. Only did Topkapi once but agree it was worthwhile. What a harem! I love Grand Bazaar for the historical significance of the building, but the actual shops are much more tourist traps now than they were on our first visit back in 2009. (At least that's my recollection.)

A few thoughts on this as I know Turkey pretty well as I previously led a company with a sizable office in Istanbul: - Erdogan is an opportunist and I seriously doubt he'll do more than posture in this conflict. He has enough economic and other issues at home that over-extending into this conflict makes no sense...but he also wants to whip up his base so he'll make a lot of noise. More bark than bite, I suspect. If I were in your shoes I wouldn't be worried either about the flights or the tour. - Turkish biz class is quite nice, with really outstanding service. I've flown it a few times and it's definitely a big step up from any Western flag carrier. - There are fantastic sights in Istanbul that make a day tour a great proposition. Be warned that traffic in the city is about the worst I've experienced anywhere, so even with a layover of that duration you're going to spend quite a bit of time getting into and out of the city. The good thing is that most of the prime sites are clustered together so you won't spend much time getting from place to place (and in fact you could just walk between them all). I'm speaking here of the Blue Mosque, Hagia Sofia, Grand Bazaar, Topkepi Palace, and the Cistern who's name I don't recall off hand.

We had afternoon tea on the Venture over the summer. But I don't think it happened every day. Edit: my wife thinks it was every day

My only hesitation with V1/2 is if your itinerary involves anchoring at all. That early morning wakeup isn't always desirable.

My wife has an upcoming girls trip I believe on Ovation that departs 11/5. She received her first email re upgrades on 9/20 and did not upgrade. Then she got another email on 10/20 at further reduced rates (almost half off the first email) and so upgraded to Wintergarden. We booked on Venture for Thanksgiving week to Antarctica about 30 days out from sailing and within days received an upgrade email with very good pricing. Once again we upgraded to Wintergarden, as we're paying somewhere between 25-30% of list price. Don't see why OB bookings would be different, just think you've got to wait to get closer in.

Ahem. I take Costco pants very seriously.

Great write up, thanks for sharing!

I've been on Mounjaro for the last 6 weeks and have lost almost 30 pounds. I might have to buy new jeans before our cruise next month or I'll be in violation! More seriously, it is strange to me how much debate there is about whether you can wear jeans while on multiple occasions (and not just expedition cruises!) I've seen sweat pants accepted to the MDR. Boggles the mind. And then finally, I do find it funny that I look considerably better dressed in a pair of $15 Costco travel pants than I do in a $150 pair of designer jeans. Not sure what Esquire's editors would say about my favorite pair of costco pants...

In July on Venture in Greenland you will be fine in any venue in your Marks & Sparks jeans. While some folks definitely dress up for the MDR, I personally stopped wearing my jacket after the first few nights as I was a distinct minority in wearing one. Was just easier to forgo.

Direct links don't work because of the way the page is built. Start by going to https://www.seabourn.com/en/us/experience/voyagetracker/index.html This is best done on a computer and not mobile, though it does work on mobile. In the top left you should see the little hamburger. Click on it. That opens a menu where you select first the ship, then the year, then the specific voyage: Once you click a voyage it opens the blog for that voyage. Hope that helps.